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* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' having run for [[LongRunners over twenty years]], is famous for being ''very'' topical in its humor, as its extremely short lead time (with each episode being [[ProductionLeadTime written, animated, and edited in the course of a week]]), allows for ''[[RippedFromTheHeadlines very]]'' [[RippedFromTheHeadlines precise and topical humor]] that often becomes dated in less than a year and, thus, it's easy for even a casual viewer to determine what year any given episode was first aired without viewing the end credits. As such, it has lampooned every hot topic in pop culture, politics, and American (and occasionally Canadian) society as a whole that has cropped up during its run, from Music/BarbraStreisand, ''VideoGame/{{Pokemon}}'' and ''Series/TheXFiles'' in the 1990s to UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror, ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', and Creator/TomCruise's public meltdown in the 2000s to LetsPlay/PewDiePie, safe spaces, ''Literature/TheTwilightSaga'', ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'' and pop culture nostalgia in the 2010s to the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic in the '20s. That said, being the textbook example of an AnimatedShockComedy, the cartoon's use of [[VulgarHumor raunchy]] and [[BottomOfTheBarrelJoke offensive humor]] rife with [[TheNewRockAndRoll controversial shock value]] that attracted the attention of MoralGuardians, endless celebrity-bashing, nihilistic attitude, [[FilibusterFreefall overly libertarian politics]] and [[BothSidesHaveAPoint "both sides" approach]] to every real-life topic identify it as a cultural product of the late 90s and 2000s.

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* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' having run for [[LongRunners over twenty years]], is famous for being ''very'' topical in its humor, as its extremely short lead time (with each episode being [[ProductionLeadTime written, animated, and edited in the course of a week]]), allows for ''[[RippedFromTheHeadlines very]]'' [[RippedFromTheHeadlines precise and topical humor]] that often becomes dated in less than a year and, thus, it's easy for even a casual viewer to determine what year any given episode was first aired without viewing the end credits. As such, it has lampooned every hot topic in pop culture, politics, and American (and occasionally Canadian) society as a whole that has cropped up during its run, from Music/BarbraStreisand, ''VideoGame/{{Pokemon}}'' and ''Series/TheXFiles'' in the 1990s to UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror, ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', and Creator/TomCruise's public meltdown in the 2000s to LetsPlay/PewDiePie, WebVideo/PewDiePie, safe spaces, ''Literature/TheTwilightSaga'', ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'' and pop culture nostalgia in the 2010s to the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic in the '20s. That said, being the textbook example of an AnimatedShockComedy, the cartoon's use of [[VulgarHumor raunchy]] and [[BottomOfTheBarrelJoke offensive humor]] rife with [[TheNewRockAndRoll controversial shock value]] that attracted the attention of MoralGuardians, endless celebrity-bashing, nihilistic attitude, [[FilibusterFreefall overly libertarian politics]] and [[BothSidesHaveAPoint "both sides" approach]] to every real-life topic identify it as a cultural product of the late 90s and 2000s.
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* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' having run for [[LongRunners over twenty years]], is famous for being ''very'' topical in its humor, as its extremely short lead time (with each episode being [[ProductionLeadTime written, animated, and edited in the course of a week]]), allows for ''[[RippedFromTheHeadlines very]]'' [[RippedFromTheHeadlines precise and topical humor]] that often becomes dated in less than a year and, thus, it's easy for even a casual viewer to determine what year any given episode was first aired without viewing the end credits. As such, it has lampooned every hot topic in pop culture, politics, and American (and occasionally Canadian) society as a whole that has cropped up during its run, from Music/BarbraStreisand, ''VideoGame/{{Pokemon}}'' and ''Series/TheXFiles'' in the 1990s to UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror, ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', and Creator/TomCruise's public meltdown in the 2000s to LetsPlay/PewDiePie, safe spaces, ''Literature/TheTwilightSaga'', ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}'' and pop culture nostalgia in the 2010s to the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic in the '20s. That said, being the textbook example of an AnimatedShockComedy, the cartoon's use of [[VulgarHumor raunchy]] and [[BottomOfTheBarrelJoke offensive humor]] rife with [[TheNewRockAndRoll controversial shock value]] that attracted the attention of MoralGuardians, endless celebrity-bashing, nihilistic attitude, [[FilibusterFreefall overly libertarian politics]] and [[BothSidesHaveAPoint "both sides" approach]] to every real-life topic identify it as a cultural product of the late 90s and 2000s.
** ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut'' references "Don't Ask Don't Tell", ''Film/FreeWilly'', ''[[Series/LateNight Late Night With Conan O'Brien]]'', UsefulNotes/SaddamHussein, and the V-Chip.
** Saddam Hussein was a recurring character early in the series (his first episode being "Terrence and Phillip: Not Without My Anus" in April 1998). He abruptly stopped appearing after May 2003 -- he had one episode after that point, "It's Christmas in Canada" (December 2003), which has him being dragged out of a hiding hole in a clear reference to his then-contemporary capture by American soldiers.
** "The Tooth Fairy's Tats 2000" revolves around Cartman wanting to get a Platform/SegaDreamcast, which would be overshadowed by the [=PlayStation=] 2 not long after its original air date, and discontinued close to a year after the episode aired.
** One episode from 2001 tries to show how Tolkien's family is relatively wealthy by having them as the only people in town with a DVD player while everyone else uses VHS tapes. A later 2012 episode has Stan saying that renting [=DVDs=] "is more ancient than Music/{{Madonna}}'s boobs".
** The episode "[[Recap/SouthParkS5E9OsamaBinLadenHasFartyPants Osama bin Laden Has Farty Pants]]" (the first post-9/11 episode) has people worrying about terrorism and anthrax attacks. Plus, with Osama's death in 2011...
** A 2004 episode has the town's girls (with the exception of Wendy) wanting to be "[[BeAWhoreToGetYourMan stupid spoiled whores]]" [[TakeThat just like]] Creator/ParisHilton (and Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and Tara Reid too), skimpy clothes and fake tans included.
** Another episode pokes fun at "zero tolerance" bullying policies at schools ([[BlamingTheVictim by painting the bullied ones as being worse than the bullies]]) at a time these were seen as rather controversial.
** "[[Recap/SouthParkS12E4CanadaOnStrike Canada on Strike]]", aside from the RippedFromTheHeadlines nature of the titular strike attacking the '07-08 writer's strike, features the overall message that [[ItWillNeverCatchOn the internet isn't a proven revenue source and people shouldn't expect to make careers off it]]. It goes so far as to feature a whole bunch of Youtube viral stars, rooted in the "cute animals and weird people singing or getting in slapstick" era of the site, and treats their attempts to make money as idiotic ("theoretically, I'm a millionaire!"). Inside of a few years, streaming through Netflix or other services would become one of the most lucrative revenue sources around, and many Youtubers have managed to leverage the site into profitable ventures and careers--primarily through gaming and LetsPlay streams, which aren't even mentioned. Even at the time, the creators had managed to score a pretty lucrative deal for putting ''South Park'' on streaming sites, so they should probably have recognized that it was about to get big.
** "[[Recap/SouthParkS16E13AScauseForApplause A Scause for Applause]]" ends with Jesus leading the townspeople in a "Free Pussy Riot" rally, which became this after the members of Pussy Riot were freed in 2013.
** [[WordOfGod Matt and Trey]] seem to have become aware of this in recent years, and the 2015 season takes some jabs at the show's 2000ish nature as it mockingly "transitions" into the 2010s with an emphasis on "political correctness".
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